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The agreement – reached on Monday by Brexit Secretary David Davis and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier – states the UK will be “consulted” on the allocation of fishing quotas and access to waters during the transition.

Luke Pollard, MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said fishermen saw the transition deal as a betrayal by the Government.

Fishing boats in Sutton Harbour

“They said Britain would leave the Common Fisheries Policy on Day One of Brexit [March 30, 2019]. We now know that isn’t true.”

And Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary, was called to Parliament to answer questions about the deal.

Totnes MP Sarah Wollaston told Mr Gove that fishermen from Brixham in her constituency were concerned that the terms of the transition could end up being reflected in the final Brexit deal. Dr Wollaston invited Mr Gove to visit Brixham, which lands the most valuable catch in England.

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Michael Gove said he was disappointed with the European Union over its stance on fishing as he faced Tory discontent.

The Environment Secretary, a prominent Brexit campaigner during the referendum, said the UK pressed Brussels for more flexibility during the implementation period after the country has formally left the bloc in March 2019 but the EU would not give ground.

The Admiral Blake pictured in 2011 (Image: Lucy Duval)

The Government has insisted it has agreed “specific safeguards” with Brussels over the annual fishing negotiations in 2019 but a series of Tory MPs publicly expressed their frustration at the deal.

Derek Thomas, Conservative MP for St Ives and the Isles of Scilly, speaking the in Commons, asked Mr Gove to confirm that from 2021 “it will be our decision who fishes in UK waters”.

He asked for a fund to be set up soon to improve and enhance the UK fleet, ports and processing plants “to prepare for that day”.

Johnny Mercer, Conservative MP for Plymouth Moor View, said he had spoken personally to the Prime Minister.

“I am concerned by what came out on Monday, but I’m content that when we leave at the end of 2020 we will have full control over our fishing waters.

“I understand that fishermen aren’t happy. If I was a fisherman, that’s how I would feel as well.”

But he said “betrayal” was too strong a word. “At the end of the day we will get to the end state that fishermen were looking for.”

Members of Plymouth's fishing community have been left devastated by the tragedy (Image: Gayle McDonald)

The announcement has led to claims the industry has been “thrown overboard”, while others have rounded on the Vote Leave campaign for raising hopes, reports Cornwall Live.

It is now understood that the EU is insisting on access to UK waters on existing terms throughout the transition period. Many believe the UK has backed down, and that in return the EU will allow the UK a say in quota negotiations after the formal departure date of March 29, 2019.

A flotilla of fishing boats sailed out of Newlyn this evening to show their support for the Vote Leave campaign. (Image: Greg Martin)

The agreement – reached on Monday by David Davis and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier – states the UK will be “consulted” on the allocation of fishing quotas and access to waters during the transition.

Conservative MPs met the Prime Minister this week to seek reassurances. And Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary, was called to Parliament to answer questions about the deal.

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Those in the local fishing industry say that the leading lights of the campaign for Britain to regain its exclusive control of its fisheries can expect to have some explaining ahead of them.

This is directed at the UK’s environment secretary Michael Gove and fisheries minister George Eustice, who is also MP for the Camborne and Redruth.

Current Environment secretary, Mr Gove, made regaining the right to set quotas and manage UK fisheries a key commitment in the Leave campaign. More recently he has called for a shorter transition period for fishing of just nine or 10 months.

Betrayal

Paul Trebilcock, chief executive of the Cornish Fish Producer’s Organisation (CFPO), said: “After agreeing on the Brexit transition arrangements there will be many fishermen up and down the length of the UK who find it hard to see what David Davis has to smile about.

“Fishermen the length and breadth of the UK signed up for Brexit because Michael Gove, George Eustice and other Tory MPs led us to believe that they would ‘Take back control’.”

Brexit presents 'once in a lifetime opportunity' for Cornwall's fishing industry' says MP as he tells Government not to drop the ball

“We are still trying to obtain the full picture of what has been or may have been agreed in Brussels. However, on the face of it, it appears that the betrayal that was feared by many has occurred, status quo on fisheries is to be maintained during transition.”

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Mr Trebilock says that even though the UK is leaving EU and CFP he believes the UK Government thinks it is acceptable to hand back fisheries management to the EU straight away.

Many UK fishermen believe that they will still, in effect, be managed by these EU regulations until the end of 2021 at the earliest.

“The danger with agreeing to the EU’s terms is that we would be a coastal state in name only for that period,” he added.

“To make matters even worse the UK has had to surrendered its vote and its place at the EU negotiating table.

“A condescending line that UK is to be allowed consultation rights in fisheries decision-making and when EU engages in international fora and negotiations has been cynically inserted to allow some attempt at justification.”

'Sold out'

According to a CFPO statement, their position is that the fear is that if the UK makes concessions as part of transitional arrangements, similar pressures will apply when it comes to negotiations on the UK’s long term relationship with the EU.

The chief executive of the South Western Fish Producer Organisation, Jim Portus, said that under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, unless a separate treaty was signed, on March 30 next year Britain would take control of waters within the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

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This is a 200-mile limit, modified where it meets a neighbouring country’s EEZ. Foreign-registered vessels will not be able to fish in these waters without a new treaty, he said.

“We’ve got 12 months to come up with an international accord,” he told the Western Morning News. “Normally it takes years to negotiate a treaty. The 27 EU countries have to agree, as well as our sovereign Parliament.

“I would say 12 months is a very tall order. If you want to diverge from international law, you have to come up with a new treaty.”

In the face of suggestions that the fishing industry might be sacrificed for the benefit of other sectors in the Brexit negotiations, Mr Portus added: “We have already been dealt with badly over the past 40 years in terms of how many fishing boats have been scrapped and how many fishing communities have been dismantled.

“The British fishing industry won’t consent to being demolished.”

Fishing now represents just 0.05% of GCP, as most of the British fishing fleet has been laid up over the past 40 years.

Newlyn Harbour Master, Rob Parsons, has told the BBC that fishermen in the port are not impressed.

He said: "They're stating that it's going to be European-centric for the transitional period and they're mentioning safeguards.

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"But in my opinion, if there are safeguards, they need to be robust enough to protect the British fishermen to mitigate the decision to do this.

"There's more to come, but I'd say the feeling in Newlyn at the moment is disappointed and slightly sold out."

Cornwall's MPs

The news has not just been met with disappointment within the industry, now the county’s MPs have pledged to fight to change the terms of agreement.

Leading Brexiteer, Jacob Rees-Mogg, has now drafted a letter calling for the UK to take back control of the UK’s fisheries and set out its own fisheries policy from March 29 2019, which has been signed by MPs including St Ives’ Derek Thomas.

“It is clear Brussels are not compromising on fishing whilst they still have us in their grasp,” he said.

“The UK's control of UK waters is now postponed until the end of 2020, giving Brussels the freedom to dictate the terms with us simply as a third party until then.

"I am completely opposed to this as are large numbers of colleagues. We have been assured that control of total access to UK waters will be ours by the close of 2020. It is what takes place in between that concerns me.”

Mr Thomas was one of a group of MPs who met with DEFRA Minister Michael Gove and the Chief Whip shortly after Mr Davis’s announcement to register their concerns, the group also plans to discuss the situation with the Prime Minister.

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Mr Thomas says that despite the announcement, he does not believe that the agreement is a ‘done deal’ and is consulting with fishing industry leaders about the best way forward.

He added: “In a speech just two weeks ago, the Prime Minister said that ‘the UK will regain control over our domestic fisheries management rules and access to our waters’ – this has to happen from April 2019 not more than 18 months later.”

“The Secretary of State will not be surprised to learn the fishermen in mid-Cornwall do feel very disappointed and in some cases angry about yesterday’s announcement… would he come and meet with the fishermen of Cornwall… and will he lay out very clearly for the fishermen of Cornwall that this implementation period will only affect one year’s quota negotiations, that their quotas will be protected during this time and at the end of that time we will be taking back control of our waters.”

In reply, the Secretary of State agreed with Steve’s points and also that he would meet with Mr Double and the fishing community in Mevagissey later this year.

After the debate Mr Double added: “I am pleased to have raised concerns brought to me by the fishing community about the Brexit proposals published yesterday.

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“I am pleased the Secretary of State listened and agreed to come to Mevagissey and meet with local fishermen. I am also pleased that he confirmed the agreement only lasts for one round of quota negotiations, UK fishing quotas will be protected and we will be taking control of our fishing waters.”

'Thrown overboard'

This comes after Molly Scott Cato, a Green Party member of the European Parliament, said that the fishing industry had been “thrown overboard” in the negotiations.

She said that she believes that the Government considers fisheries as “small fry” when it comes to the Brexit negotiations.

“It has sold fishing down the river as it uses it as a bargaining chip to try and secure protection for other areas of the economy considered far more important,” she said.

“Nigel Farage and his flotilla of fishing boats steaming confidently up the Thames during the referendum campaign, claiming leaving the EU would enable fishers to take back control of our waters, seems like a lifetime ago.

"The fishing industry has been thrown overboard into the murky waters of Brexit half-truths.”

Yesterday Mr Gove told the Commons: “There is disappointment in fishing communities – I know, as someone whose father was a fish merchant, whose grandparents went to sea to fish, I completely understand how fishing communities feel about this situation at the moment.

“I share their disappointment.”

He added: “Our proposal to the EU was that, during the implementation period, we would sit alongside other coastal states as a third country and equal partner in annual quota negotiations – and in making that case, we did so after full consultation with representatives of the fisheries industry.

“We pressed during negotiations to secure this outcome and we’re disappointed the EU was not willing to move on this.”

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But he said the text from Brussels’ original proposal has been amended and provides “additional reassurance”, with the UK’s share of quotas not changing during the implementation period and a commitment it can attend international negotiations.

And he added that there was a “significant prize” at the end of the implementation period.

He said: “In December 2020, we will be negotiating fishing opportunities as a third country, an independent coastal state deciding who can access our waters and on what terms for the first time in over 40 years.”